So that we may also show our dear Lord His service on this Sunday, you shall hear His holy word.
Luc. 2, 41-52.
And his parents went up to Jerusalem every year for the feast of Easter. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. And when the days were fulfilled, and they returned home, the child Jesus abode at Jerusalem, and his parents knew it not. But they thought he was among the companions, and came a day's journey, and sought him among their friends and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they went again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass after three days, that they found him sitting in the temple in the midst of the teachers, listening unto them, and asking them questions. And all who listened to him were amazed at his understanding and his answer. And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou done this unto us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee with sorrows. And he said unto them: Why have ye sought me? know ye not that I must be in my father's? And they understood not the word which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, age and grace with God and men.
This is a high gospel, if one wants to interpret it highly and sharply, and say that the Virgin Mary lost her Son, and how it happens when one loses the infant Jesus from his heart. But let us save such interpretation for another time, and now take before us that which is lightest and easiest, and most useful to the common man.
(2) Your beloved has heard that the feast of the wise men is called the feast of the revelation of Christ, which is celebrated for this reason, just as this revelation took place so that the newborn child would not remain secret, but would be revealed; otherwise it would have been of no use if we had not known about it. For this reason, other gospels are preached about these days, in which it is seen how Christ revealed himself; as when the star appears to the wise men in the east, and when he is baptized by John at the Jordan, and afterward is seen with the first miracle at the wedding in Cana, that he is such a Lord, who is mighty in all things, and has all things in his power.
*) Held in the house, 1534.
power. For this reason, the Fathers compiled the Gospels for this time, in which the revelations are described, so that the Lord Jesus would not only be known among the people, but also be regarded and praised as the one who is more than any other man, namely, a Lord born to such dominion, who can and is able to do everything, and we would recognize him as our Savior, and in all distress and concern would turn to him and learn to seek help from him.
3 Today's gospel also serves this purpose. For it is also a revelation by which the Lord Jesus shows that he is not a common but a special child, because he secretly withdraws from his parents and steps out of obedience, which all children otherwise owe to their parents by God's command. The evangelist says that this is what happened. His parents had to appear every year at the Easter feast, like other Jews, in the temple in Jerusalem. When they took the child Jesus with them, he stayed behind them in Jerusalem. That provided the parents, may perhaps be used that he went before more with their relatives.
is. For Christ did not live like a fiend in his youth, he did not lead a special life, but behaved like other children; at times he also played with his companions, without, as the text reports, becoming more pious, yes, even without sin, and before other children he increased in grace and wisdom. This makes his mother Mary and Joseph think that he is among the companions, and so they leave him there. But in the evening, when they came to the first inn in Jerusalem, they looked around to see where the child was. When they looked for him among the friends and acquaintances and did not find him, they were very frightened. For the child was specially commanded to the mother. So Joseph also had a strong command that he should take care of him. But Mary alone was the mother. Therefore it was a great fright and special heartache to her that she should not find it. There will not have been much sleeping, eating, resting before weeping; but they ran back the same night a mile or four ways; but the child was lost.
4 Now therefore count what their heart hath said unto them. For the first day the child is lost before they know it; the second day they search for it and do not find it; the third day they find it at first. Therefore they will not have slept much during the three nights and will have thought many things; and especially she, the mother, will have thought: God has taken his son from you again, he does not want you to be his mother anymore, that you have waited for him so diligently. So Joseph also thought: God will no longer have you as a guardian, because you have been so indolent and have not waited for the only child, who is God's son and is commanded and trusted to you by God.
(5) Now this is a special thing, that the child Jesus, our dear Lord God, wanted to show himself in such a way that he would not have to be subject to his mother out of necessity and by right, but what he did, he did only for an example, out of good will and not out of duty. For he was not only his mother's son, but also her God and Lord. Therefore, he does not present himself as a son to his mother, just as he did to his mother.
we will also hear today about eight days, when he says: "Woman, what have I to do with you? He does the same here, showing that he is not only a man who must obey his father and mother out of necessity, but he stands up and lets himself be heard to say that he has another father, who is greater and on whom he has more favorable regard than on Mary and Joseph. "What is it," he says, "that you have sought me? Do you not know that I must be in that which is my Father's?" As if to say, I am your Son, but I am more the Son of that Father who is in heaven.
For our sake, then, he reveals himself, so that we may know him well and come to believe that he is not only a true man, but also a true God. Therefore, as the mother addresses him, "My son, why have you done this to us?" he answers for himself and says, "I have not disobeyed you, nor have I despised you, as you would have us believe. So he wants to be right and unpunished by his mother; Mary and Joseph must also be wrong for the pain and sorrow they have had. Do you not know, he says, that I am over you, the Son of God in heaven? Remind them therefore what the angels, the shepherds, the arch-father Simeon, and others have preached of him; as if to say, Have ye forgotten all these things? You should know, if I have already stayed away, that I nevertheless do not disobey you, but owe more obedience to God, my Father in heaven.
(7) All this, as I have said, has been done too well for us to instruct our faith, so that we may learn to know Christ correctly, that he is more than a man, that is, he is also truly God. For this reason he withdraws from the obedience of his parents, remains at Jerusalem, and therefore wants to be unpunished by his parents, so that he may make himself known to us with such a revelation and instruct our faith, so that we may know what to think of him. On the other hand, with this revelation he also wanted to give us an example and teach us that we should be more obedient to God than to men, even if it is our parents themselves. For this is the fruit of our corrupt nature
one, namely, our ignorance and great blindness, which is always inclined to serve men rather than God. Therefore we should learn from this example of our dear Lord Jesus Christ: when it comes to the point that we have to disobey either God or our parents and overlords, that we say with Christ: "I must be in that which is my Father's in heaven"; outside of this case I will gladly and heartily be obedient to father and mother, emperor, king, lord and women in the house. But here in this case it means: Dear father, dear mother, I have another father, I shall look to him more than to you. Mary and Joseph had forgotten this, so he had to remind them of it and teach them.
(8) Now this is also written for our sake; for the bad manner, as I have said, we have by nature, when we are to serve God and render his obedience to him, that we excuse ourselves with the world and say: I must not; for God has commanded me to be obedient to my authorities; as now the persecutors of the Gospel do, having learned from us that we are guilty of being obedient to the authorities, and he who is obedient to the authorities is obedient to God. They praise this obedience highly. Then the subjects go to and leave the obedience, which they owe to God, pending, and say: We know well that according to the Scriptures it is not wrong to receive the Sacrament under both forms: but we must be obedient to our authorities. There is father and mother, there is my prince, who does not want it, therefore I may not do it. Thank you, dear nobles.
(9) But who is your authority? It is my sovereign, my father and mother. Right. But what is the right authority? Have you no other authority besides your sovereign, father and mother on earth? What do you take him for, who says in the first commandment: "I, the Lord, your God"? Should it not be so here, when he says: This pleases me, I will have it so; that you, regardless of your ruler, yes, king and emperor, father and mother, say with Christ: Oportet me esse in his, quae
sunt Patris mei: "I must be in that which is my Father's"? For God's word and command shall ever proceed justly. When the command is given, then one should also do what father and mother, emperor and king want, so that one does not put the cart before the horses.
(10) This is why our dear Lord Jesus Christ reveals Himself in this gospel, not only for our faith and comfort that He is our Lord God and Savior, but also as an example that in matters concerning God we should not look to anyone, be it father, mother, ruler, or whatever you want to call it. For there is another Lord and higher authority, which is called: I am your God. You shall obey him and do what he tells you to do, and serve him before all. When this obedience is directed, then do according to it what your father and mother, your ruler and authorities want you to do; but that they do not hinder you in this higher obedience, which, as I said, must be directed before all things.
(11) I do not want to touch here on the great temptation that few people feel when one loses Christ in the heart; but I want to remain simple with the child, who thus reveals himself that he is something more than other people, so that he takes himself off without permission from the obedience of his mother, and does not go after her, but she has to go after him, to confirm what she had heard from the angel: "He will be called a son of the Most High! She had to be reminded of this here, so that she would not forget it.
(12) So this revelation rhymes well with the other revelations. For here it is seen that Christ is a peculiar man, as the shepherds and Simeon had testified of him. Therefore he did not want to be kept like other children, even though he sometimes ran around and played with other children.
(13) Now what he did in the temple the evangelist shows in detail: that he did not ask what the grain was worth? how one should eat and drink? but he talked with the scribes about God's law and word, listening to them at first as they interpreted the Scriptures, and asking them their
The scribes were punished for their false teaching and interpretation, as a young boy should be punished. As if to set an example, as we see in Matthew, when they, the scribes, preached about the fifth commandment and interpreted it only as meaning that one should not strike with the hand to kill, he came out and said, "Truly, striking to death is not only with the fist, but also with the heart, with the eyes and with the tongue, when one is angry with one's neighbor, looks at him sourly, speaks evil of him, curses him. For the fifth commandment is to have a kind heart toward one's neighbor.
14 In this way he listened to them and asked them questions, as a young child would ask. In this way he let himself be noticed and revealed that the teachers were surprised and thought: Where does the boy get such thoughts? For when he heard something wrong from them, when they were wrong, he punished them with childish punishment.
15 And this is that he says, "I must be in that which is my Father's." What is the Father's? God's word, law and command. But just as he asked them about God's law, so he will undoubtedly have asked them about God's promises, what they think of the Messiah, where he will come from and what his ministry will be. And in all this he will have spoken with special humility, discipline and shame, and will have presented himself as if he had learned from his mother, so that everyone would have thought: The boy has the Holy Spirit, he will become a miracle man. For it is customary at this time of year for young people to show that they can sense what is to become of them and how they are to turn out.
16 This is a brief history of how the infant Jesus revealed himself to his mother and Joseph as if he were more than another child, because he was out of their obedience and still wanted to be unpunished.
Now St. Lucas concludes the gospel and says that he went down with them to Nazareth and was their subject. So this child, who for the sake of his father in heaven withdrew from his mother, would have liked to see the word pure,
now again becomes obedient to the mother and to Joseph, whether he was not guilty. As St. Lucas finely reports in that he says: "He was subject to them. As if he should say: He did it of his own free will, not out of necessity; for he was God and a lord of Mary and Joseph. But that he was obedient to them, he did it not for the sake of his father and mother, but for the sake of the example. For this is to be esteemed, that the child Jesus did in the house all that he was commanded, and gathered the shavings, and fetched the water, and the meat, and other things, and let nothing be disturbed.
(18) This example should be diligently observed by the youth, that the Lord, who is the God of us all, did such things in his childhood, and did not neglect what his mother commanded him, even though they were small, little, and unsightly works; so that they may also do such things, and learn such obedience and humility; for such things are pleasing to God, and, as the fourth commandment states, he wants all children to be obedient and willing to their parents.
19 I still remember that in the past there was a question in the monasteries among the young monks, what Christ had done in his childhood; as the monks have written their own book, de infantia Salvatoris (about the childhood of the Savior), since there are many clumsy fools inside. There is also a fable about a bishop: he should also have desired to know such things; he dreamt that he saw a carpenter hewing a piece of wood and a little child with him, carrying shavings, until finally a virgin in a blue skirt came with a pan, and called both the man and the little boy to eat. Then in a dream he saw himself secretly creeping towards the house and standing behind the door, so that he could see what they were eating. As the virgin pours the porridge on a bowl and has a small bowl next to it, in which she prepares something special for the child, the child lifts it up and says, "Yes, mother, what should that man behind the door eat? The bishop is said to have been frightened and awakened by such a word. They have fantasized such a ridiculous thing.
020 But if you really want to know what Christ did in his youth, listen to the evangelist here when he says, "He was subject to them. That is, he did what his father and mother told him to do and did not let anything stand in his way. Every child and servant should be ashamed in his heart who hears such a story about the little child Jesus and yet does not obey his parents or his masters in such a way, even lives in shameful disobedience. The common thoughts and speeches go like this, that everyone says: If I knew what the child Jesus had done, I would also do it. For if the monks say, Franciscus did this, dressed like this, watched like this, I will also do like this; here they say much more, If I knew what Christ had done, I would also do like this; but who can know what Christ has done? Such things may be thought and said, and may be used as an excuse: but it is evident and evident in the day, what Christ did; for here it is written, "He was subject unto his parents." With such words the evangelist describes the whole youth of our dear Lord Christ.
Twenty-one: But what does it mean, "He was subject to them"? Nothing else, but that he went in the works of the fourth commandment. These are the works of which the father and mother of the house have need, that he fetched water, drink, bread, meat, made fire, kept the house, and such like things, which they called him, as another child. This is what the dear little Jesus did. When his mother said, "Son, run and get me a candelabra full of water, fetch me some kofent, *) fetch me wood, straw, etc.," he ran and fetched it.
22 Since it is well known what Jesus has done, all children should be so pious and say: Oh, I am not worthy to come to glory, and to be like the child Jesus, in that I do as he, my Lord Christ, did. If he has picked up shavings, perhaps also the
He drove out cattle, gave him food, and did other things that his parents told him to do, and did nothing else special: ei, what fine children we would be if we followed his example, and also did what our parents told us to do, it would also be as bad and low as it could be.
(23) Therefore, do not write great books about what the child Jesus has done. One should only pay attention to what father and mother need in the house, and what they use to tell the children: Come here, do this, run away, do that. For here it is clear that he did not run into a monastery and become a monk, but went with them to Nazareth, remained among the people, and there waited for obedience to his father and mother, and, like another child, allowed himself to be drawn; he did not step out of the commandments.
(24) The crude and fanciful monks write that the infant Jesus made new birds, deer and other animals in his youth, and they write about him such works that do not serve obedience nor do they belong to the fourth commandment. But father and mother will not have told him to make new little birds, because filial obedience requires other works that belong to stewardship and which, as we see, almost no one wants to do. Of such works the evangelist reports, which belong to the house and to the fourth commandment, and thereby the childlike obedience to the parents is proven.
(25) Let us diligently observe these things, that we may not only know what the child Jesus did in his youth, and follow his example, but also believe without a doubt that these works, which are called the obedience of parents, were sanctified and given through the child Jesus. Because he has sanctified such works with his person, we should shut our mouths, so that we could also come to this. But the world does not allow itself to be told. That is why we have left such works and obedience standing and have run away in the name of all the devils to the monasteries, to St. James and elsewhere. Everybody thought he wanted to do it better and more delicious than the dear little child Jesus. Have not
We have seen that such household works and obedience to father and mother are sanctified by this holy person, the Son of God, who himself in his youth carried wood, gathered shavings, built fires, fetched water, and did such other household work that we are not worthy to imitate him.
Therefore, we should study this history diligently and consider ourselves blessed when we walk in such obedience and works, since we see that Christ Himself did not allow such works to be neglected. For they are a thousand times better and holier works than the works of all monks in monasteries can ever be. For the infant Jesus did not run away to a monastery, but remained at home, serving Joseph and his mother, as an example to us, so that
We will learn how these are all precious, noble, holy works, which Christ, our dear Lord, himself has done.
(27) That therefore this is the sum of the holy gospel: First, that Christ is not only the Son of Mary, but also her God and Lord, yea, a Lord over all, and is found in that which is his Father. After that, even though he is already Lord over all things, nevertheless, as an example to us, he lets himself down, is obedient to father and mother, so that we may follow him in life and works and learn both, first of all to obey God, then also to faithfully obey father, mother and all authorities. In this way we can boast on both sides that we have done right, and because of this all happiness and blessings will be with us. May God help us to do this through Christ our Lord, amen.